REL 3103: Monday, Period 6-7 (12:50-2:45), Little Hall, Room 0121; Wednesday, period 6 (12:50-1:40), Turlington 2305

• What are the various and contested ways terms such as “religion” and “nature” are understood, and do such understandings enhance or constrain our ability to apprehend their reciprocal influence in American cultural, political, and environmental history?
• Have the habitats of North America shaped human consciousness, including “religious” or “spiritual” perceptions, ritualizing, and ethical practices, and if so, how? This question will be in mind throughout the course, from an examination of the cultures of the continent’s “first peoples,” to religionists, environmentalists and scientists in the 20th century.
• How and to what extent have religions of various sorts influenced human behavior in ways that contributed to the transformation of North American ecosystems?
• What roles have religiously-shaped concepts of nature played in American political history? For example, how have notions such as “natural theology” “natural law” and understandings of “sacred nature” influenced social life and natural systems during the history of the United States?
• How have religion-related nature discourses, attitudes, and practices been shaped by, and shaped European cultures, and later, by such developments in international spheres?

The course will draw on diverse sources, including ethnographies and other studies pertinent to America's aboriginal peoples, environmental histories that attend to the role of religion in landscape transformations, primary texts written by the figures most responsible for watersheds in the "religion and ecology" ferment in America, scholarly examinations of these figures and their influence, as well as studies of social movements engaged in the "greening of religion" or conversely, resisting religion-inspired environmentalism. A variety of theoretical issues and background articles, including biographies of many of the central figures to be examined, will be provided from The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (2005). Students will complete the course with a broad knowledge of nature-related American religious history, acquainted both with pivotal figures, movements, and critical questions.

1. Religion & Nature with Early European Contacts (1000-1600).
1. The arrival, first of the Norse, then the Spanish and other European peoples, set in motion dramatic and sometimes devastating changes to the land, its first inhabitants, and the new immigrants. Religion had much to do with the character of these encounters and these changes.
2. The Colonial Period (1600-1775).
1. Fear, Ambivalence, and the Stirrings of Reverence toward Nature in the Colonial Period to the Founding of the Republic (ca. 1600-1776).
2. Religion & the Ideology of Manifest Destiny as the violent collision of European and Native American Religious Cultures escalate.
3. Early Republic to the End of the Frontier (ca. 1780 to 1890).
1. The subjugation of wild peoples and places (continued).
2. The European tributary of aesthetic, religious, and romantic attachments toward nature,
1. Transcendentalism and romantic theologies of correspondence.
2. Wildness and wilderness emerge as nature religion.
4. The End of the Frontier to Earth Day (1880-1970).
1. Forest Reserves & National Parks; Scouting and Indian Guides.
2. Nature writing, Back to the Land Movements, and early "post-supernaturalistic spiritualities of connection."
3. the Land Ethic (1948), Sea Mysticism & Silent Spring (1962).
4. "The Historic Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" (1967) and the turn toward the indigenous cultures of Turtle Island (1969) and those originating in Asia.
5. Religion and Nature from Earth Day & the Age of Environmentalism (1970 to present)
1. Asian, Pagan, and Native American Spiritualities as Nature Religions.
2. the "Greening" of some factions of the World's Major Religions.
3. The growth of Scientific Nature Religion, including Systems Ecology and the Odumites; Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology; "Intelligent Design" and its variants; and the Consecration of Scientific Narratives in Cosmos, The Epic of Evolution, & the Universe Story
4. Environmentalism and Religion
5. Reactionary Responses
6. International Dimensions and Future Trends

Students may propose a variety of other figures, to name a few possibilities

1. This is a reading-intensive class so a high priority will be placed on the quality of preparation, participation, and thus also attendance (30%). To ensure careful preparation, there will be regular, unannounced, quizzes held in class based on the readings, or, students will be asked to submit by email, normally no later than midnight Saturday (otherwise by announcement), a 300-500 word summary of the major arguments being articulated in the major reading, and identify major fault lines and competing perspectives. The weeks in which these short essays will be required will be announced in class, by email, or placed in the reading schedule; so pay attention!
2. Multiple choice in class & take home essay mid term exam (30%); see class schedule for details.
3. Multiple choice and short answer final exam (40%); see class schedule for details.

Important Notes

This course is a hybrid, including both upper-level undergraduate and a graduate student sections. This has both disadvantages and advantages, but the course has been designed to amplify the advantages. It may be necessary to make adjustments to course readings and requirements along the way. The online version of this syllabus is the operative and binding version, so it is imperative that you use the online version, rather than versions printed out earlier in the class.

Graduate Sections

This course is a luxury in that the premium in it is the reading of primary and secondary sources that you will likely not have the opportunity to do in a similar way unless your research takes you in these directions. Consequently, it is what I call a ‘readings’ course. This means I do not require a research paper. Rather, I prioritize careful reading and class preparation, in-class presentations, and exams, which provide an opportunity to demonstrate careful reading and analytical insights. Here are the specific assignments:

1. Consistent attendance, quality of preparation, & participation (15%). Normally, by no later than Saturday evening (otherwise by announcement), students are to email a 500-800 word summary of the major arguments being articulated in the major readings, with some reflection on the relationship among these arguments and other currents in the class, first in other readings from that week, and then, with regard to other theoretical streams they are encountering. In other words, after articulating the arguments being advanced and what is at stake with regard to them, you are to identify the fault lines and competing perspectives that are emerging and make connections among the various understandings. If the key readings are not argumentative, then you should describe the perspective(s) presented and note connections among this week’s and prior readings. Remember that the course has to do with religion and nature in America, so you should be especially alert to and engaged in analysis of the religious dimensions of the arguments, figures, movements, and so on, that appear in your readings. In fall of 2013 you will also be regularly called upon to explain and interpret readings that the undergraduates have not had in their assignments.
2. Biographical, Movement Research, or Controversy Analysis (& related classroom presentation). (15%) Each student will either (1) read the major writings of and about seminal figures or (2) read about movements critical to the America’s religion and nature ferment, and then, provide written, and if time allows, oral reports to the classroom, as negotiated with and scheduled through agreement with the instructor. In your presentations you should endeavor to situate the subject within the broader cultural ferment of the time. Presentations focused on individuals will include the reading of biographies (see course bibliography for some examples). A third option will be to read into a critical controversy, such as related to Frederick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” and its “New Western History” detractors, analyzing the controversy’s relevance to this course’s critical questions. Whatever else they do, all presentations will bring the same sorts of critical questioning to these analyses as identified under #1, above.
3. Mid term exam with in-class and take-home essay components (30%)
4. Final exam: with in-class and essay dimensions specified in the course schedule (40%).

* Alternative: Students wishing to write a standard research paper may do so, replacing this for assignment #2, above. In such a case both exams, and the research paper, will each be worth 30% of the course grade.

Important Notes

Undergraduate Section

Graduate Section

Calculating Grades

For both the midterm and final exams, the total number of points earned by each student will be divided by the total number earned by the highest-scoring student. The resulting percentage will be used to calculate each student’s grade for the course. Put in a formula, it looks like this:

the score of each individual student (your score)
(divided by) the highest score earned by a student 

Students engaged in any form of academic dishonesty, as defined under the “Academic Misconduct” section of the Student Discipline Code, will be subject to other disciplinary measures. Students are expected to know what constitutes plagiarism and to understand and avoid inadvertent forms of it that can occur by cutting and pasting quotations from various texts on the world wide web and elsewhere.

22 September: By 7:00 a.m., underaduates and grad students are to email written analyses of this week's readings, making connections to previous readings.

Email to Dr. Taylor's email address a reading review covering the main readings over the past two weeks, by 8:00 a.m., Friday, 15 October (Homecoming); you may use 50% more words than for a single week, if you wish.